I was talking to a old fisherman yesterday and he told me he used Bar Fish (yellow bass) as bait for big blues. I looked it up and there isn't a limit of any kind on them. Is this legal to use as bait? I have caught them in the past sandbass fishing and just threw them back.

They are gamefish in the state of Texas, thus cannot be used for bait.

Also worth noting, if catching them while fishing for white bass, they taste 100X better than white bass (at least to me of course).

I might have to keep some next time and see how they taste.

Thanks I didn't think they were legal for bait.

they are very good eating. i dont know how i got lucky enough to have a friend clean a bunch for me but i think they are well worth it. since they are usually small it reminds me of bluegill fillets.

if you use them foe bait dont get caught doing it.

yea i have heard the same about them yellow bass

I thought you could only keep 5.

Currently, Texas has no bag limit on yellow bass. There may be some lakes with rules that supersede this, but I have not checked.

They're an interesting fish. Once found only in the eastern 1/3 of our state, they've been slowly moving west.

This is absolutly True?... Bar fish are considered a "GAME FISH". now that I didn't know and I will get a TP&W game book tomorrow and look this up. I do know that their is no number limit or size limit, and boy can they be a nuisance. I too have heard that they are a sweet fish to eat and I'm going to give this a try.

yup.

In TX all the true bass are gamefish.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Game Fish (includes hybrids or subspecies of fish on this list):

* Bass: Guadalupe, largemouth, smallmouth, spotted, striped, white, yellow
-------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/fish/definitions/

Will I'll be Dang! Bar fish a game fish... Will I never used them for bait anyway... But I think I'll start eating them now, might offset some of their nuisance, bait stealing ways, and make me feel better...

small?i get em alot when im out for cats, usually 2-5 pounds

First what lake do you fish big country? Also make sure they are yellow bass because you are catching state and lake records I think...

No doubt! I have yet to catch a 1 pound yellow bass. I have found them small, abundant and annoying. Fortunately Joe Pool does not have the scourge of yellow bass.

This is the first time I heard they were any better to eat then white bass. Ya'll ain't doing something in my boot and callin it rain are ya?

conroe, yea im sure they're yellow bass, most are about 2 pound, caught a couple almost 5, those were full of eggs though, i dont really care bout settin a record with em so i dont worry bout checkin in on that

just checked tpwd and the conroe record is .88 pound, i need to do somethin about that